Open Thread

What’s on your mind?

Comments

[not guilty]

The New York Times reports that at least 35 times since August, federal judges have ordered the Trump administration to explain why it should not be punished for violating their orders in immigration cases. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/us/politics/judges-contempt-immigration-trump.html

It seems to me that it is time for judges to impose civil contempt sanctions and put some asses in lockup, including DOJ lawyers and cabinet officials, until the subject court orders are complied with.

[Dr. Ed 2]

I think the judges are wisely concerned about the fact that it may be THEY who get tossed into jail. There IS a legitimate balance of powers issue here, along with a very real one of who has more fire power, court security or the Department of Homeland Security?

[ReaderY]

As Stalin once put it, “How many divisions does the Pope have?” Moral authority only carries one so far, especially in an immoral world.

[Michael P]

It is long past time to impeach these wanna-be kings.

[not guilty]

Which particular judges do you contend should be impeached, and for what specific conduct, Michael P?

[Frank Drackman]

The ones that participated in trying "45/47/(48?)" for all of that Bull shit from 2021-2024, funny how they dropped everything when he won.
If he hadn't won Judge Engorgederon was gonna send him to Rikers, same Judge who's daughter was a big Biden contributor.
Pretty sure a competent Prosecutor could find some crimes there, if not, we'll just make some up, it's the "Process" that's the punishment.
Oh yes, I love cold Revenge.

Frank

[Sarcastr0]

I am sometimes amazed that people can post for years on a legal blog and learn nothing about our system of government.

I know, I know, you can't reason someone out of a position they didn't reason themselves in to. But the commitment to never picking up even a morsel of understanding is incredible.

Tribalism is a heluva drug.

[Mr. Bumble]

Uga buga.

[ReaderY]

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

— Upton Sinclair

[Sarcastr0]

I don't think Michael P is paid to have these bad takes, though sometimes he comes out with weird nonenglish constructions that make me wonder.

[ReaderY]

Tribal membership and associated social benefits are goods whose value shouldn’t be underestimated.

[Sarcastr0]

A palpable hit, sir.

Great point.

[ReaderY]

Grammar: Mr. Trump is a singularity. He currently doesn’t command a plurality.

[Kazinski]

Interesting graph with perspective on the affordability crises.

"9 of the 10 most expensive states to live in are solid Blue.

9 of the 10 most affordable states are solid Red.

The bluer the state, the higher the cost of living."

https://x.com/i/status/2025990425618624586

Now I think we do know where a lot of that discrepancy is, energy costs are much higher in Blue states than Red states, both gasoline, and Utilities. And quite a bit of that is intentional policy.

And we also know lower cost states have a built in tax advantage, Federal income taxes are not indexed for cost of living, not is the standard deduction, but there is now a state and local tax deduction. But things like food prices and new cars probably don't have big regionall variences. So while someone can live a solid middle class existence in Arkansas on 50k. they would be living on the street in NY or LA.

[Sarcastr0]

Cities.

Cities have a high cost of living, and tend to be blue.

[Mr. Bumble]

Cities tend to be blue and therefore have the highest cost of living.
Fixed it for you.

[Dr. Ed 2]

With both economy of scale and compressed logistics, cities would logically be cheaper to live in.

[Brett Bellmore]

That is, in fact, literally the only justification for their existence, after all; That they're supposedly economically superior.

[Sarcastr0]

No, cities exist because people built them and other people moved into them; they are not part of some central plan to maximize economic efficiency.

[Brett Bellmore]

That's the only alternatives? Central planning and shits and giggles? You don't think economics dictates anything that isn't ordered by some government bureau?

Sarcastr0, you can explain the location of almost every city on earth with economic reasons. They're ports, they're located at the intersection of trade routes, they're anchored to some resource.

Cities grew because they were economically needed, because people gathering together in that location made some economic sense. Cities that cease to have an economic justification shrink again, become ghost towns. Unless governments prop them up, anyway, and even that has its limits.

You may be a city dweller, and think cities are their own justification, but if they don't work economically, people start leaving. Again, unless government props them up, pays people to stay anyway, resulting in, I guess you could call them zombie cities, urban slums.

[Mr. Bumble]

...and of course Il Douche now lives in suburban Whitelandia.

[Sarcastr0]

Dude, you're the one demanding cities justify themselves.
Cities are not a leftover of 1900s economics. You just have a weird hate-on for cities.

You're picking a fight as though I am a big cities defender. I'm not; I just think they exist because that's what people wanna do. Maybe it's economics, maybe it's a culture; I don't care.

It is what it is. Why you have such an issue with that reality, I do not know.

[Brett Bellmore]

I'm not demanding they justify themselves, observing economic reality isn't issuing an order. I'm stating that if they don't justify themselves, they'll go away, because they have to work economically to survive.

Cities are way above the optimum for population density when it comes to the provision of services. They're dense enough to make things more expensive on a per capita basis, which is why the cost of living in them is so high.

If they don't produce some economic bonus over what the same people could produce living under less crowded conditions, they won't work economically, and they NEED to work economically to survive.

Why don't I like cities? Because cities are pathological. They've been population sinks throughout human history, because they're not a healthy way for humans to live.

Sometimes you can justify doing something unhealthy if it's necessary for survival, but if advances in technology render it unnecessary, why would you keep doing it? Force of habit?

[hobie]

Exactly. Ol' Kaz is merely decrying the industrialization and productivity of the blue states. Simultaneously pining for the agrarian society of yore.

[Mr. Bumble]

"Zakaria opened with Zohran Mamdani’s New York, calling it “a prime example of a problem Democrats seem unwilling to confront.” That’s a pretty remarkable admission from a CNN host, but I assure you, he was just getting started.

“Blue cities are out of control,” he said, “promising more, spending more, delivering less, and pushing off the fiscal problems to some future day.”

He then turned to Los Angeles, and the numbers he cited are staggering. Zakaria noted that the city’s homelessness budget for fiscal year 2025-2026 alone totals roughly $950 million. Not the cumulative total over several years. One year. And what has all that money bought? He explained that the LA Homelessness Services Authority reported that homelessness increased by 9% countywide and 10% within the city in 2023. A 2024 AP account found that homelessness had surged by 70% countywide since 2015 and by 80% within the city.

“All this amid public frustration, despite billions spent,” Zakaria said…

Then Zakaria asked the key question Democrats never ask: “What is the theory of good government here?” His answer was cutting. “If the answer is keep adding programs, the city will keep producing unaffordability, because unaffordability is what happens when government becomes a machine that grows faster than the society it governs.”
https://x.com/FareedZakaria/status/2025646993939284183

[Brett Bellmore]

“All this amid public frustration, despite billions spent,”

Despite, because. People tend to confuse those concepts, don't they?

[jb]

Yeah, anything like this would need to at least try to control for stuff like this. Comparing Arkansas with Los Angeles seems especially dumb.

Also, poor states are more affordable. Notice that the states with the worst economies are the ones at the very bottom of the list. Not sure why blue states should be striving to be the Bangladesh of America so they can look good on this list.

[Frank Drackman]

You been to the Left Coast lately? Compton and East LA are way closer to Bangladesh than Little Rock or Austin.

[Kazinski]

Texas has cities, Including #4, 5 Houston and Dallas. Oregon doesn't have any cities in the top 20, but has a much higher cost of living.

NH, NJ, WA, CO, RI, VA, are not dominated by big cities either, and all of those have higher than average costs of living.

[Frank Drackman]

And in Oregon they charge you for shopping bags, which I refuse to pay, when I'm out there I look like the world's worst shoplifter with items stuffed in pockets, my pants, down my shirt. (I really do have a Banana in my pocket)

[Sarcastr0]

Texas does have cities. But not like California does. And NJ is one of the most urban states.

You're just not comparing like with like.

[Frank Drackman]

Yes, in Texas they don't Shit on the Streets.
In Texas you can carry a gun concealed, legally, just like Kamala in Kalifornia.
Texas has HEB (I could tell you but I'd have to kill you) and they'll give you all the bags you want, free of charge.
California has "Ralphs" not 1/2 the store HEB is and they charge you for bags.
Drove from Eagle Pass to Amarillo recently, even the State Highways were 80mph speed limit.
Southern Cal took me 2 hrs to get from Escondido to Yoma Linda, on a Saturday.
California has In N Out, (Overrated) Texas has Whataburger (Underrated if anything, and none of this "Secret Menu" Bullshit)
Actually, you get out into the California Desert, you might as well be in Texas.
I do enjoy how in South Texas people will just walk up to you and assume you speak Spanish.

Frank

[Dr. Ed 2]

The New York City budget, exceeds the budget for the entire Florida state government, as does the New York State budget, even though Florida has more people.

[Frank Drackman]

California's State Income Tax is 9.3% on income over $75,000, add Uncle Sammy's 22%and 15.3% FICA (but my Employer's paying 1/2! yeah right, that and the "Refund" peoples think they're getting are why the system's survived over 100 years.)
So our Notional CA worker bee is paying a Marginal Rate of 46.3%
Unless they're tips, which are tax free.
Georgia's isn't much better with a State Tax rate of 5.49%, and none of those confusing Brackets, you pay it from your first taxable Shekel.

Frank

[hobie]

Don't worry, Kaz. In a couple of years we'll all be equally poor:

As part of the global pivot away from doing business with the US:

Canada has secured new trade agreements with China, Indonesia and Ecuador. It's also cancelling its biggest military contracts in favor of European suppliers.
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/canadas-carney-aims-lead-new-global-trading-order-less-reliant-us-2026-01-20/

Europe and Indonesia are now tearing up their extorted tariff agreements with the US and are now rushing to China.

Let's see if the buffoon mentions any of that tonight.

[Brett Bellmore]

Hobie, we're actually large enough to be self sufficient; Our economy is large enough to capture basically all relevant economies of scale, we have a comprehensive set of natural resources. You can't make America poor by trying to isolate us economically. You'll just cause us to revert back to economic self-sufficiency.

There will be some disruption while we undo our dependency on other countries, of course. But the end result of such an effort is pretty predictable.

[Sarcastr0]

Hobie, we're actually large enough to be self sufficient

This was debunked by David Ricardo in the early 1800s.

You're asking a threshold question in an optimization arena.

You can't make America poor by trying to isolate us economically
You sure as fuck can! Where are you getting these terrible takes from?

dependency on other countries
Here, if I am not mistaken, you are arguing national security is implied by foreign trade. All of it. Just, in general.

Like mercantalism, but even dumber.

Read something about economics. Anything. I know you get weird on concepts when defending Trump but this is amazingly illiterate, even for you.

[Brett Bellmore]

Sarcastr0, in the early 1800's the entire civilized world had less people in it than the US does now. Did Ricardo disprove the existence of diminishing returns?

[Sarcastr0]

Affordability is kind of about vibes, so it is hard to nail down. But the stories I read about it point to
1) Housing. Cities have had this for a long time, but since early 2025 it's not just an urban problem: https://www.redfin.com/news/suburban-urban-rural-q3-2025/

2) Groceries. This is tariffs, but also bird flu. Part of why blindly posting CPI alone is myopic.

3) Health Care. This is a GOP policy choice, made for political reasons.

Housing is a bipartisan problem; the rest are due to federal GOP choices.
Putting this on state and local smacks of desperation among the terminally online. So far it's not working well with the normies.

[Mr. Bumble]

Vibes are what your wife uses for satisfaction.

[Frank Drackman]

Hey, they finally made a machine to do a man's work.

Frank "if Mrs. Drackman can't go to the Penis, the Penis will go to Mrs. Drackman"

[hobie]

I must admit, my egg prices are down to pre-pandemic. However, not so the chicken meat that laid them. Since Trump has done absolutely zero on domestic policy - instead focusing exclusively on global tariffs and foreign adventurism - I don't think anyone can credit him for the eggs.

[Brett Bellmore]

Precisely zero on domestic policy is actually what was needed: Getting government out of the way so that the economy could recover from the damage done by government during the pandemic.

We could actually use a lot more zero than we're getting, the courts are obstructing Trump's efforts to do less domestically.

[Sarcastr0]

I don't think Lochnerism is going to supercharge our way out of
affordability being an issue.

Note the lack of details; this is the cult of deregulation as fairy dust.

[hobie]

Here's another interesting graph from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index for 2025 (the one ol' Kaz never bothers to cite). Basically, nearly every single thing in America increased in price significantly in 2025. The only things that decreased were: Dairy (eggs!!!), gas, communication and airline fares.

Don't worry, hayseeds. We'll all thank you in November.

https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2026/consumer-price-index-2025-in-review.htm

[Mr. Bumble]

An urgent plea. Please use more fossil fuels to speed up Global Warming. Spent yesterday shoveling out from 16" of snow and am getting too old for that shit.

[Dr. Ed 2]

When it got to Boston, it was at the status of a level one hurricane.

This kind of weather is historical, it’s what the weather was like in the 19th century and early 20th century. And while the global cooling warming changing whatever conspiracy folks I’m going to blame this on the evil humans as well, the fact remains that storms like this of what winter weather historically was like in the northeast. The Great Portland Gale comes to immediate mind…

[Frank Drackman]

Going over my travel from last year, flew roughly 100,000 miles, drove 20,000, all work trips.
My personal cars? under 2,000, (I'm gone all the time)
Figuring average airliner gets about 1mpg, cars about 30,
Lets see.....hommina hommina hommina,
About 100,000 gallons Jet Fuel,
600-700 of Unleaded.
And that's just me, there's usually alot of other peoples in the Jets.
Usually just me in the car. But there's so many peoples in other cars, almost like its an economical and convenient way to get around.
Shows how ridiculous the concern about Cars is.

Frank

[Dr. Ed 2]

A very different Epstein theory.

Forget the sex.

Presume the possibility that Epstein was a particularly gifted money launderer, and/or particularly gifted tax dodger. That’s the sort of person who would come to the attention of the FBI, isn’t it?

Post 911, the FBI was trying to track down terrorist money, right?

And what does the FBI historically do when it catches someone like a particularly gifted money charlatan? Doesn’t it often make a deal where the person agrees to be the FBI’s Patsy?

Do not forget that this is the same FBI who license Whitey Bulger to run wild for a quarter century.

So is it unreasonable to presume the possibility that Epstein may have been the FBI‘s money man?

[Michael P]

Letitia James continues to misunderstand how the United States Constitution works.

Last May, New York Attorney General Letitia James warned school boards across the state that when debating bathroom access or sports participation, board members can be removed if they make or even allow comments that “demean” trans students.

James elaborated that "demean" includes essentially any challenge to pandering to transgender claims or wishes.

https://open.substack.com/pub/thefireorg/p/ny-attorney-general-threatens-to

[Mr. Bumble]

Will Super Max need to be enlarged?
" Trump quietly got Mexico to hand over 100 cartel leaders — including El Mencho’s brother — before Jalisco raid"
https://nypost.com/2026/02/23/us-news/trump-quietly-got-mexico-to-hand-over-100-cartel-leaders-before-el-mencho-raid/

[hobie]

Great. 100 more cartel gauchos to get pardons. 'Crooked Joe Biden treated these cartelitos very unfairly.'

[CountmontyC]

Democrats will soon be demanding that these cartel leaders be released and given work permits pending asylum claims.

[hobie]

Are you on glue or something? We ain't gonna be the ones that release them and gives them pardons.

[Mr. Bumble]

"NEW: DHS is slamming California Gov. Newsom after they say he pardoned a Cambodian illegal alien w/ a deportation order who was convicted of attempted murder & assault w/ a firearm, which will shield him from deportation. DHS says the pardon removes his qualifying convictions for deportation, & he can now re-open immigration proceedings and remain in the U.S. for the process, which often takes years."
https://x.com/BillMelugin_/status/2025963311200645539

[Sarcastr0]

Anyone got any longshot calls for the SoTU tonight? Not like 'Trump will blame Biden for affordability' or 'Trump will attack the Supreme Court' but actual longshots.

I'm running a D&D game so I'll miss it.

[Mr. Bumble]

"I'm running a D&D game so I'll miss it."
Does this surprise anyone?

[Frank Drackman]

I remember when that was a thing, didn't realize it still was, about the same time "Leisure Suit Larry" was big.

[Frank Drackman]

He should have a Big Screen temporarily installed, run that clip of Sleepy Joe from 2 years ago,
"Yeah, Lincoln Riley! Murdered by an Illegal! But how many have been murdered by Legals!?!?!?!?!?"

Frank

[bloocow2]

Do you ever shut up?

[Mr. Bumble]

You misplaced this, Il Douche (SacastrO) is two comments down.

[hobie]

Prediction: Every single speech he's made has been more unhinged than the last, so expect the usual firehose of lies and self-congratulation.

What the hayseeds better pray for is that he doesn't go off script.

[Sarcastr0]

I said longshot calls, hobie!

That prediction is like the free space on the bingo card.

[Frank Drackman]

"A New York City university professor has sparked widespread fury after she was caught on a hot mic making a crass comment about black students — which education officials branded “blatantly racist.”
Allyson Friedman, an associate professor at Hunter College, sparked controversy when she interjected a black eighth-grade student’s concerns about the potential shutdown of her school during a Community Education Council meeting on Feb. 10. “They’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school,” Friedman reportedly said while her mic was live, according to the New York Times."

Well the New York Times, so I knew it had to be Bullshit and it was.
It was a "Zoom" meeting, some Black 8th grader was blathering on, and Dr. Friedman (PhD Neuroscientist, not sure what she was doing with all of these Idiots) "Spoke Truth to Power"
Or Idiocy.
Hunter College's considering her future employment, If I were Dr. Friedman, I would be too. Neuroscience is one of the few PhD Fields you can actually make good money in.

Frank

[Malika la Maize]

The Justice Department has withheld some Epstein files related to allegations that President Trump sexually abused a minor, an NPR investigation finds. It also removed some documents from the public database where accusations against Jeffrey Epstein also mention Trump.

Some files have not been made public despite a law mandating their release. These include what appears to be more than 50 pages of FBI interviews, and notes from conversations with a woman who accused Trump of sexual abuse decades ago when she was a minor.

https://www.npr.org/2026/02/24/nx-s1-5723968/epstein-files-trump-accusation-maxwell